TAC-19-54402 Customer Service Improvement Program The purpose of this Amendment (A00003) is to provide answers to additional questions received.

Questions and Answers for 36C10B19R0016 Customer Service Improvement Program
Please be advised that any information contained herein is for informational purposes only, is offered in response to specific questions posed by prospective Offerors and is subject to change throughout the question and answer process. Accordingly, if there is any discrepancy between the information contained within this document, any previous and/or subsequent Question and Answer document(s), and/or the Solicitation, Offerors are hereby advised that the terms and conditions contained within the final Solicitation control. If indicated in the Questions and Answers provided below, updated information will be incorporated into the Request for Proposal (RFP) by an amendment to the RFP.
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PWS Section
Question
1
Given that there is no requirement for VA ATO or FedRAMP Authorization associated with this RFP, how does the VA intend to ensure compliance with the requirements listed in Addendums A and B?
Answer: Addendums A and B have been tailored. Changes are highlighted in yellow. See revised Addendums A and B.
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5.3.1, Page 30
The Government states, The intake sources for such issues are surveys, emails to the CSI Program, or telephone calls from customers and Leadership.
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Question: What is the historical volume of customer contacts across these channels?
Answer: About 20 customer issue contacts per month.
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5.4.1, Page 31
The Government states, The Contractor shall also develop presentation materials and design Presentation Slides for executive briefing and customer meetings.
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Question: What is the historical number of presentations created for executive briefings and customer meetings?
Answer: About three presentations (averaging 20 slides each) per month.
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5.6.3. Page 33
The Government states, by creating correlation analysis between IT Customer Service and VA Organizational (i.e., VHA, VBA, and NCA) Outcomes.
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Question: Did the Government mean to state regression analysis instead of lieu of correlation analysis ?
Answer: Correlation analysis is correct in this context. Other statistical methods will be used when necessary.
5
(iii), Page 110
The Government states, The Offeror shall also provide other than cost and pricing data to substantiate their price.
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Question: Specifically, what data is VA requesting?
Answer: Pricing data, cost data, and judgmental information necessary for the contracting officer to determine a fair and reasonable price or to determine cost realism. Such data may include the identical types of data as certified cost or pricing data, consistent with Table 15-2 of FAR 15.408 but without the certification. https://www.acquisition.gov/content/part-15-contracting-negotiation
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6.6
Government Furnished Property Does every person on the contractor team need a Government Furnished Laptop?
Answer: No.
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E.14
Past Performance How many Past Performance examples are needed in support of this proposal?
Answer: See (ii) Volume II Past Performance Factor under Section E.14 Response Instructions page 108
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E.14
Past Performance Is there a page count max for the Past Performance Volume?
Answer: See Content Requirements table under Section E.14 Response Instructions page 107
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5.1.2
Reporting Requirements Can the Government provide more detail regarding which documents should be represented in the itemized list of all information and Communication Technology (ICT) deliverables and their current Section 508 conformance status.
Answer: See page 44, Addendum A3.0 Notice of the Federal Accessibility Law Affecting All Information and Communication Technology Procurements (Section 508) and A.3.1 Section 508 ICT Standards
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5.3.1
Customer Issue Management What is the currently weekly average volume of customer issues (emails, phone calls) and what systems are used to track and triage?
Answer: The current volume is about 20 customer issue contacts per month. Issue Tracking is managed on SharePoint and triage is performed by telephone and email contacts with the SME s.
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5.3.2
Identify and Promulgate Best Practices in OI & T What is the timeframe for delivery of (C) Webinar Scripts and (D) Training Program Lesson Plan and Curriculum in the base year?
Answer: See Section B.3 Schedule of Deliverables Contract Line Item Number (CLIN) 0003AD and 0003AE respectively.
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5.3.2
Identify and Promulgate Best Practices in OI & T Can you provide more information on how many training plans/curriculums and webinar scripts will be needed in the base year?
Answer: One half-day training curriculum; six webinar scripts, one every two months, each for one-hour long webinar.
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General
How many FTE s are currently performing the requirement? Concept here is to level the playing the field and avoid losing on price.
Answer: Past contract requirements were changed, and hence past contractor headcount or staff capabilities are not an accurate measure of the current contract requirements.
14
General
The Government identified SAS, SPSS, R, Salesforce and Tableau as tools does the Government have existing licenses that can be utilized by Contractors?
Answer: Yes, the Government has existing licenses for SAS, SPSS, Salesforce, and Tableau. R is a public domain statistical package, which is approved for VA use.
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General
In order to ensure price quotes are comparable among all Offerors, would the Government consider providing a NTE value for Travel?
Answer: No.
16
Who is the incumbent, contract number and how long have they support this program?
Answer: The incumbent is DekaTron, Contract Number VA118-15-C-0020, approximately four and a half years.
17
Will the Government provide estimated number of LCATs per year based on historical actuals?
Answer: The current contract was descoped and new requirements have been added to this PWS, therefore the historical actuals are no longer valid.
18
Would the Government consider extending this RFP to be due 3 weeks after answers are published? Industry would likely need more than 2 weeks to respond to a 20-page technical.
Answer: No, not at this time.
19
Could the Government un-redact the section numbers under E.14(i)1 Volume I Technical Factor ?
Answer: There are no redactions in the solicitation. The only redactions are found in the Justification and Approval attachment.
20
The majority of the PWS is concerned with administrative and communication tasks. However, the instructions to offerors mention the technical volume should focus on IT services. Does the Government want the offerors to discuss capability in administrative and communication tasks? If so, where?
Answer: As per the instructions found on page 106, Section E.14.2(i) Volume I Technical Factor, Offeror s are to provide their approach to completing the requirements in PWS tasks 5.1 5.6. In addition, particular detail should be given specifically to the three additional topics of the Offeror s programing capabilities using SAS, SPSS, R and Tableau, the Offeror s ACSI capabilities identified in Section 5.2.1 and how the Offeror would go about improving IT services with data gathered completing Section 5.2, which is the ultimate objective the CSI Program.
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5.2.1
Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey Is any coordination with other office required, such as H & RA or National Center for Organization Development http://www.va.gov/ncod/
Answer: No.
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5.2.3
Site Visits and Customer Interviews Are there specific experience/credentialed requirements for these positions?
Answer: Qualitative research experience including conducting focus groups and preparing qualitative research reports based on the focus groups.
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5.4.2
Customer Service Award Who is responsible for take the photos?
Answer: Contractor is not responsible to take the photos.
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5.5
Net Promotor Score Measurement This survey is sent to 30,000 randomly selected VA employees each month. Does this mean there may be some recipient overlap with the monthly 1,000 segmented survey recipients in 5.2.2 Customer Segment Surveys?
Answer: Yes..

Questions and Answers
Customer Service Improvement Program
Request for Proposal 36C10B19R0016
Please be advised that any information contained herein is for informational purposes only, is offered in response to specific questions posed by prospective Offerors, and is subject to change throughout the question and answer process. Accordingly, in the event that there is any discrepancy between the information contained within this document, any previous and/or subsequent Question and Answer document(s), and/or the Solicitation, Offerors are hereby advised that the terms and conditions contained within the final Solicitation control. If indicated in the Questions and Answers provided below, updated information will be incorporated into the Request for Proposal (RFP) by an amendment to the RFP.
Who is the incumbent contractor for this work? If so, will this effort be awarded back to them?
The current incumbent was DekaTron, VA118-15-C-0020, which has lapsed. The original requirements under VA118-15-C-0020 have changed. This is a competitive re-compete of VA118-15-C0020, and all proposals shall be evaluated.
Has any company current done this or similar work for VA, including the establishment of the existing CSI systems and processes? If so, can these previous vendors/contractors be identified? Will any of these vendors/contracts continue working on the same or similar systems and need to be worked closely with for a successful execution of the deliverables listed?
The following three companies have provided these services in the past: DekaTron, Federal Consulting Group, and MSquared.
No. The current contract has lapsed, and all proposals shall be evaluated.
Section 1.0 Background The Government states that VA has chosen ACSI as a model to gauge VA customer satisfaction . We understand there is only one company which is licensed to provide ACSI solution. Is it the intent of the Government to limit competition to a licensed ACSI provider, or can a company capable of applying the ACSI Methodology respond to this solicitation?
It is not the Government s intent to limit competition. The Government understands the CFI Group sub-licenses this methodology and there are several vendors which can provide the service. Any companies that can provide the ACSI methodology can respond to this solicitation and meet the SDVOSB set-aside requirement..

This is a combined synopsis/solicitation for commercial services prepared in accordance with the format in Federal Acquisition Regulation Subpart 12.6, as supplemented with additional information included in this notice and a written solicitation will not be issued. This announcement constitutes the only solicitation; proposals are being requested. This solicitation, 36C10B19R0016, is being issued as a Request for Proposal (RFP) from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Office of Procurement, Acquisition and Logistics, Technology Acquisition Center. The solicitation document and incorporated provisions and clauses are those in effect through the Federal Acquisition Circular 2019-01 effective January 22, 2019 and the latest version of the VA Acquisition Regulation supplement. This RFP is issued as a total service-disabled Veteran-owned small business set-aside, for the procurement of management and consulting services for the measurement of Customer Satisfaction Metrics. The required services include functions such as measurement of customer satisfaction, customer site visits and engagement, customer service improvement activities, analysis of quantitative and qualitative data, communication, data analytics, research, and reporting. The brand name portion of this requirement is the use of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) Structural Equation Modeling software. ACSI Structural Equation Modeling software is required for completion of the Annual Customer Satisfaction Survey and the Net Promoter Score measurement surveys. The data from these surveys are utilized for the overall measurement of Customer Satisfaction Metrics. The ACSI measures customer satisfaction with over 100 services, programs and websites of federal government agencies.  ACSI is used for government entities to track user satisfaction with the quality of their services over time and compare these results to other organizations in both the private and public spheres. Net Promoter Score measurement surveys are sent to randomly selected VA employees each month. The surveys are a measurement of customer experience and they also predict business growth. The North American Industry Classification System Code applicable to this action is 541611.
Questions and responses regarding this combined synopsis/solicitation shall be directed to Susan Banasiak, Contract Specialist at Susan.Banasiak@va.gov and Peter Lewandowski, Contracting Officer, at Peter.Lewandowski@va.gov with the subject line as the solicitation number, 36C10B19R0016.
Please see attached solicitation..